Who? One of my favorite quotes by a local musician of all time is by Joe Ortiz of Clockpole, the mad gathering of random musicians that never seems to be the same thing more than once. In an interview with Free Press Houston he once said, "The name doesn't make any sense and the band doesn't make any sense."

Ortiz was right. His journey began from watching Aerosmith videos on MTV in the '80s, and decided that such shenanigans were exactly what he wanted to do with his time. Many lawns mowed later, he bought a guitar. He started out in a loud rock outfit called Leatherpants in 2001, and moved onto the criminally underrated Novice in 2004. Being based in Texas City made making headway and building momentum difficult despite the group's inarguable talent, and they called it quits in 2007.

Two years off gave Ortiz the strength to try again, and he decided that Clockpole would be unlike anything else that he'd done before. There would be no rules, no safety net, hell, not even really any songs. Everything would be spontaneous, unplanned, and loud as hell.

At a typical Clockpole show, audience members are recruited to make noise, clothes come off at regular intervals, and the whole thing is a celebration of aural inhibitions dropped by the way side. It's a most excellent experiment.

Home Base: Understandly, Clockpole doesn't have one. Clockpole only exists in the moment it is happening, so there's no writing process aside from the basic ideas Ortiz occasionally sketches out at home. The band plays house parties, street corners, and traditional venues, without differentiating between the three. It all happens when it happens.

Why Do You Stay In Houston? We seem to be shouting it at the top of our lungs sometimes, but Houston has incredible musical variety. No genre goes unrepresented, and more than a few artists cannot accurately be described by normal terms in the first place. That's what Ortiz likes about being here: Houston has room to be weird.

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Music Scene Pet Peeve: "I hate when a band takes forever to set up or tear down," he says. "I didn't come to watch you not know how to set up your gear. I came to hear you play. I hate anything that unnecessarily interrupts the flow of a performance. This includes but is not limited to long silence between songs, stupid stage banter, telling me about your merch, telling me about your online presence, awkward conversation, and inability to quickly tune instruments.

"I hate when the first band wants to wait another 30 to 40 minutes to play because they hope more people show up," continues Ortiz. "If no one is there and you suck, then they're not missing anything. If no one is there and you are awesome, then they can feel left out when everyone that arrived on time tells them about the great band they missed.

"Whether there is one person or one million, always play like it matters because it always does matter," he concludes.

Good War Story: "Driving down hill on Lamar Boulevard in Austin with Austin Rhoads in a Ford Explorer full of equipment while the brakes went out towards a red light at a busy intersection," he says. "In order to avoid killing anyone, I jumped the curb over the sidewalk -- nearly missing pedestrians, almost flipped the car but was saved by the heavy amps loaded on one side preventing us from flipping over.

"We safely and amazingly rolled perfectly into a parking spot at a gas station," marvels Ortiz. "It almost looked like we meant to do it."

Best Show Ever: "I've played so many great shows, it's hard to name the best," says Ortiz. "A few that stand out with Clockpole: The all naked, unicorn, clown, maypole dance at Super Happy Fun Land. Free Press Summer Fest 2012, Super Happy Fun Land stage.

Me and Alicia's wedding reception show at Super Happy Fun Land," he continues. "The piñata, balloon, glitter, confetti, toilet-paper show at Mango's. The thing they all had in common was a high level of chaos."

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